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szisoman
Reviews
Spitting Image (1984)
Spitting Image was hilarious
Spitting Image was an extremely funny show. It stopped at nothing & ridiculed everyone, from politicians to royal rivalry. It is a pity it ended & didn't get the chance to parody Blair, Prescott & Buyers, i am sure they would have had a great time coming up with sketches as good as the thatcher era. as for de_niro_2001 from Scotland, i guess he can't appreciate humor or lacks one, or maybe because the show made fun of Scotland one time, when they showed a list of some things that Scotland brought the world: Dr Finlay, Lulu, English tourists, wee wee on the floors of trains,that really horrible Dundee cake, a monster that doesn't exist & lots of silly dancing. Scotland, not far from London.....not far enough! that was a classic!
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Exaltingly dark
The final star wars episode "Revenge of the sith" is mighty dark & undoubtedly the best of the prequels. We see how palpatine is successful on pulling anakin to his side away from the Jedi's, using anakin's rising fear of losing amidala. Of course Yoda's advice to anakin not to hold on to those he cares about isn't heeded as he slowly but surely slips into the force's dark side with flabbergasting consequences. We also get to see at last Darth sidious at work & there's a fantastic duel with Yoda near the end to show their skills matched against each other. The film tries to tie all the loose ends together, anakin's light saber which Luke gets a hold of in "a new hope", why was obi wan close to Luke, how were the Jedi's wiped out,which i hoped wouldve been more darker than it really was, how anakin is transformed into Darth Vader & why he wheezes all the time. I found that one question still mystified me,why or how did obi wan's body disappear when he was struck down by Vader in star wars 77 & how was he able to communicate later with Luke in episodes 5 & 6...qui gonn is mentioned by Yoda but how or what is never mentioned, nonetheless, i found this final ending of the saga to be quite dark, entertaining & beautifully made by Lucas considering Phantom Menace. Don't forget that star wars isn't a film for adults, its mainly a film for kids where adults can enjoy, Godfather it isn't!
Alexandrie... New York (2004)
Shahin's last hopefully!
I Think yousef shahin should stop making films! I'm afraid he must hang up his boots, i.e, stop rolling. I saw portions of this film, not all of it but its the usual Shahine clichés. Shahin still insists on using songs & dances in his films which alienate viewers from the serious continuity of the film, when it exists. The scene where Yehia(Ahmed yehya) is angry and shouting at his mother Ginger(yousra) after finding out his real father is Egyptian (his looks aren't exactly American or Caucasian either) is just another example of cementing notions in the psyche of the audience. Another scene where Yousra-Ginger is confronted by a racial burst of venom that's only to inflame the inferiority complex of many. Some bits seem distant in nature & do not fit but then that could be just me. Casting the new comer Ahmed yehia wasn't a good choice. He can dance but cannot act. The other new comer Yousra Louzy seems quite promising but will she drift into the mainstream Egyptian cinema scene or will she break the mould & do something inventive? only time will tell. Shahin should have stopped those auto biographies years ago, it was OK for a film or two but now it's really boring & tedious. If there aren't any other interesting topics that fascinate him, then his health is obscuring his vision & must stop making films, at least not his biography anymore.
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Different & smart sequel
Actually i wanted to give the film 8/10 but somehow clicked the button while it slipped to 10 somehow! Anyway, the film is quite good, i understand why many didn't like it but at first i was confused as how they got the Fabergé egg, but when i saw it a second time, i realized i had missed about 4 seconds that explained it all. It would be fair to say that the team this time got away with murder, seeing the way they got to it first before the Night Fox, it does amount to cheating but hey, this is robbery and he did bring it on himself by ratting out on them all for his inflated ego. the film veers quite a distance from the first one, i guess soderbergh was smart not to repeat himself or copy the same formula which would have been terribly boring. Instead, he changes it a bit & adds a different colour & dimensions to the characters. If someone wants to see a replica of Oceans eleven, then perhaps they wont appreciate 12 a lot, i prefer twelve to eleven as it was smarter & stylish. The bit where they try to fool the museum by pretending Julia Roberts is actually,Julia Roberts is quite an inventive piece, not to mention hilarious as well. I think for twelve to have been a really great film ,it would've been half an hour longer. The Night Fox is really more subtle & perhaps better than they are, after all, he is only one person & they are eleven, or are they now twelve? I didn't make out who is £ 12 now, Catherine zeta Jones or Vincent Cassel, cos at the end of the film one can clearly see there's gonna be a third installment & i hope there is, perhaps next time they rob a Japanese/Chinese museum, or attempt to steal diamonds from Africa, whatever they do i hope the same cast returns! Only thing i didn't like in the film was brad Pitt's hair!
Le Prince (2004)
Warm & hopeful film
Basically, its a love story. This guy ,Adel,who comes from humble backgrounds & works as a florist falls for a trendy woman who walks past his kiosk every morning played by Sonia Mankai (seen in summer in la goulette & the English Patient). She just turns out to be a credit manager at a bank he delivers by sheer chance flowers to. He starts to send her fancy flower bouquets anonymously while at the same time trying to make ends meet & so it affects his life much to his boss's dismay, played here by Mostapha Adouani ,of a Summer in la Goulette & Halfaouine. Now adel's friends include a chauffeur. He gives him advice & encourages him to pursue the bank executive who happens to be a divorced mother & older than adel to add salt to injury. He has this editor who's magazine went bankrupt & is contemplating a move to Canada which angers his younger lover , unfortunately i didn't have time to catch their real names but acting wise, they were good. The story moves in different aspects of life amongst those 3 but the main attraction is the one sided love affair which seems will plummet after adel's mum goes to the bank & makes a real scene & causes the security guard to prevent adel from delivering flower bouquets to the exec. till he decides to confront her & leaves a note inviting her to dinner at a swanky restaurant. She agrees to go on advice of a friend who is a bit hyper before her wedding by the looks of it. Now The restaurant meeting i enjoyed a lot, I also liked the editor's performance very much , i am not sure of his name but i think it might be mohamed senousi. Anyhow, the film is heart warming & full of hope & veers away from the pretentious elements that could've been added, so i think the director Mohamed Zran did a good job to keep this film as simple & beautiful as it is. I give it 7/10.
Raqsat errihu (2003)
For Intelligent Cinema aficionados
La danse du vent is not a typical tunisian film, it does not speak to the average audience but to a more specific intellectual audience. The film is about a director who travels to southern tunisia to choose locations & prepare for his next project. He arrives at a village then drives out in the desert at night & soon his 4X4 gets stuck in the middle of nowhere. He is stranded & has to survive & find a way out by discovering the area surrounding him, he starts to see mirages & is only comforted by what is an obsession of a bedouin woman he briefly met earlier who visits him in a dream or is a dream herself. He soon finds he has to move on from where he is stuck & forfeit his dream or obsession, as in the scene where he lets his script & sketches get blown with the desert wind. Beautifully shot & directed, manages to instill a feeling of desolation with the worsening of the situation. This film is an indication that tunisian films are maturing beyond the common realms of traditional arabic films.
Bezness (1992)
Interesting
Bezness is about double confused standards. rofa is a giuy who dreams of going & settling in Europe & he does so by befriending European tourists so he might hook up one day with one & go there to work, but he is somewhat engaged to khomsa whom is treated in the traditional customary middle eastern way, so when fred who works as a photographer starts to show interest in her it evolves into a love triangle, who will win & who will lose, especially when Khomsa finds out what her fiancé does behind her back! This film is quite enjoyable despite the muffled ending, nonetheless its a good film & well acted. Note that khomsa is the same person in silences of the palace, ghalya lacroix, who doesn't seem to act or do much these days, much to my disappointment!
La Saison des Hommes (2000)
The past strikes again!
Not as grand as the superb silences of the palace but not bad at all. Aicha takes her autistic son & 2 daughters back to the island of djerba as her marriage is suffering. There the women of djerba make rugs & carpets most of the year & then their husbands come for one month to collect them & head back to their bazaar shops in tunisia the capital, hence the name, season of men. Moufida does repeat here the haunting past with secrets like she did in silences of the palace. I couldn't sympathies with hend sabri's Emna,her character was a bit off putting unlike her sister meriem, who ghalya ben ali played the part quite well, perhaps it was the role but the one who really did shine & is a promising talent is the young meriem, Azza baaziz, who was able to convey her emotions & suffering better than anyone else in the film in my opinion. Moufida tlatli seems to have found another young promising talent in her just like she did with Hend sabri in the silences of the palace ten years ago. This film will be enjoyed by those who liked silences even if not in the same level of grandeur, this one is about breaking tradition, confronting your past & finding yourself.